Official Next Smash - Speculation & Discussion Thread

[Oracle Link]

I wouldn’t say the remake designs are awful but I do prefer Smash’s designs for both Cloud and Sephiroth. I think Remake was a step up from Advent Children at least. I do agree that I like the anime aesthetic the original games and Smash have. My personal favorite designs for the characters are the original artworks like the one at the top. I’d love to see models try to get as close to that style as possible and I think Smash is the closest we have so far.

These Bring Arts figures are basically exactly what I’d want to see as video game models:

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True remake cloud looks better than AC Cloud!

 

[NintenZ]

Nintendo being like “Aah unions” will never not be funny to me, especially considering some of the stuff I’ve heard from their workplace employees that recently came out.

Just a reminder that everyone is entitled to their rights and that unionization is a good thing.

 

[Nabbitfan730]

Think this is a NOA thing then Nintendo general.

From you hear, for some reason, NOJ and NOA is like day and night in terms of workplace.

 

[Oracle Link]

Noa is diffrent from NOJ (and other branches) in a big number of ways especially when it comes to translation!
Especially English zelda sticks out like a sore thumb!

 

[DarthEnderX]

Side note, but I think David Hayter's gone on record saying that Nintendo didn't call him in to provide Snake with any new lines, yet he was more than willing to come and do just that. In David's case, I can't tell if it was the union thing or Colonel Campbell's JP VA passing away that made them not want to do new Codecs, but clearly David was bummed out.

To be fair, they didn't get the JP VA in to do new lines either. So there were no new lines to dub. So it wasn't likely a union thing.

I’m pretty sure talking about gramps from Xenoblade 2.

The old guy IS the flying boat.

 

[Gengar84]

To be fair, they didn't get the JP VA in to do new lines either. So there were no new lines to dub. So it wasn't likely a union thing.

The old guy IS the flying boat.

Yep, I’d say he’s more of a dragon than a boat but I’m pretty sure that’s what Sucumbio was referring to. I do agree that the stage is too small. I also kind of wish you could swim in the clouds like water.

 

[Sucumbio]

Yep, I’d say he’s more of a dragon than a boat but I’m pretty sure that’s what Sucumbio was referring to. I do agree that the stage is too small. I also kind of wish you could swim in the clouds like water.

I think it's a pretty stage and though I don't know what the boat is saying (or Viridi for that matter) I like that element. It caught me off guard the first time I was like who's talking? I think it'd be cool to have more stages with active scenes like that, maybe in a Zelda stage you could have Beedle go Thaaank You or something....

 

[smashkirby]

To be fair, they didn't get the JP VA in to do new lines either. So there were no new lines to dub. So it wasn't likely a union thing.

Yeah, and when you consider the situation with Campbell's JP VA passing away... well, at the very least, we might have an idea as to why they probably didn't do any new Codecs.

 

[NintenZ]

Thinking about how Nintendo didn’t even contact the Final Fantasy VAs because they wanted to avoid a union contract feels so pathetic to me in hindsight.

Look at SEGA compared to that, getting Danny Trejo and Daniel Dae Kim and having Debi Derryberry reprise her role as Haruka over 18 years after the original Yakuza in Infinite Wealth, it’s such a difference.

 

[fogbadge]

Thinking about how Nintendo didn’t even contact the Final Fantasy VAs because they wanted to avoid a union contract feels so pathetic to me in hindsight.

Look at SEGA compared to that, getting Danny Trejo and Daniel Dae Kim and having Debi Derryberry reprise her role as Haruka over 18 years after the original Yakuza in Infinite Wealth, it’s such a difference.

let’s not overlook the detail that union VAs still work with Nintendo usually just uncredited from what I understand

 

[Gengar84]

Is Johnny Yong Bosch a union employee? They managed to get him for Zero. I’d love Crispin Freeman and Steve Blum in Smash but I think they might both be union so we’ll see. I’m not sure Freeman has voiced a big enough game character to be considered for Smash anyways. His biggest roles have been in animation.

 

[Speed Weed]

Thinking about how Nintendo didn’t even contact the Final Fantasy VAs because they wanted to avoid a union contract feels so pathetic to me in hindsight.

Look at SEGA compared to that, getting Danny Trejo and Daniel Dae Kim and having Debi Derryberry reprise her role as Haruka over 18 years after the original Yakuza in Infinite Wealth, it’s such a difference.

To be fair, SEGA are also the ones who swapped out Kiryu's original English VA for Random Famous YouTuber Man YongYea to an almost universally negative reception, so they're not exactly the kings of treating VAs fairly either

EDIT: I should note that I get that this post is moreso about the difference in how much money each company is willing to shell out, just wanted to point out that SEGA has their own history of being weird with VAs and as such I don't feel it's entirely apt to hold them up as an example of VA work treated right

 

[NintenZ]

To be fair, SEGA are also the ones who swapped out Kiryu's original English VA for Random Famous YouTuber Man YongYea to an almost universally negative reception, so they're not exactly the kings of treating VAs fairly either

EDIT: I should note that I get that this post is moreso about the difference in how much money each company is willing to shell out, just wanted to point out that SEGA has their own history of being weird with VAs and as such I don't feel it's entirely apt to hold them up as an example of VA work treated right

I’m well aware they’re not a gold standard (Sonic) but I thought this instance was a good one where the game was union and they contacted several union actors to be in it so I brought it up.

Also I don’t think it’s fair to blame the YongYea situation on them, it’s really the casting director who’s at fault but they could’ve at least issued a statement when he was getting harassed.

 

[Gengar84]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

 

[Speed Weed]

I’m well aware they’re not a gold standard (Sonic) but I thought this instance was a good one where the game was union and they contacted several union actors to be in it so I brought it up.

Also I don’t think it’s fair to blame the YongYea situation on them, it’s really the casting director who’s at fault but they could’ve at least issued a statement when he was getting harassed.

Yeah I see your point, moreso about that specific instance

 

[fogbadge]

Is Johnny Yong Bosch a union employee? They managed to get him for Zero. I’d love Crispin Freeman and Steve Blum in Smash but I think they might both be union so we’ll see. I’m not sure Freeman has voiced a big enough game character to be considered for Smash anyways. His biggest roles have been in animation.

Like I said they have ways around it

 

[osby]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

Big-name voice actors are probably safe - they can still bring people around to give games a chance.

Lesser-known VAs might be in danger but hopefully, they can negotiate better deals with companies to prevent that.

 

[Kirbeh]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things.

I feel like that's a legally gray area too. I would hope that if you voice a character and a company tries to feed your past work on said character to an AI you could raise the matter of it still being your voice. If they want to run your voice through an AI for commercial purposes, that should be at the discretion of the VA. They should be compensated for the use of their voice be it in the booth or through AI. Preferably, just stick to the VAs, but I know companies are probably already looking into AI voiceovers...

 

[Sucumbio]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

Remember when the news ran about Aki replacing real actors because square pictures made "such a life like design" hahaha wow. But now, actually... Yeah I mean cgi is amazing now. I think if any jobs are in jeapordy it's aspiring va's.

 

[TheFirstPoppyBro]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

If companies genuinely start trying this, they'll get slapped by strikes just like Hollywood did with actors and writers getting AI protections/getting paid for their likeness being used anyway not too long ago.

So hopefully after that display, nobody's too keen on using it to replace jobs again any time soon.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Speaking of voice actors, BITF just released their Charles Martinet dedication song.

 

[Ivander]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

Besides time saving and obviously money, I think part of the problem is some people being unwilling to socialise or interact with people, whether out of fear/discomfort or lack of respect. Particularly, when I think about how most of the higher-ups don't really know the people, the makers, and whatnot who develop and make the things. It's a common issue that's not just been reported to happen, but you can kinda see it when some makers talk about some aspects.
Like how there's that one Arena FPS game or something that uses alot of AI voices and when they were brought up, the makers started talking about voice actors and the difficulties of making contracts with them or something. Which alot of voice actors were confused on why they were making it sound so difficult when it's nowhere near that difficult. Or how some Konami employees talked about how the suits hardly knew anything about their own game series or the developers.

It doesn't help that when most technology is made to make things easier and accessible, you have to take into account that Everybody can access it. And the ones who make the best use of them are either the people who are the most experienced with it or the people with the money to give. And more often than not, when the people with the money are involved, it's often because they can see something they can take advantage or exploit.
Like while it seems fun and dandy that there are companies pushing for copyrights regarding AI artwork and it taking from the internet to make it's stuff, some people aren't aware that depending on how it's handled, that it can inadvertently give companies more control over things like fan art, fan videos, parodies and whatnot. And it includes the companies who are already a big pain with stuff like that. People need to be very careful and aware that companies are not your friends and that there may very well be a more selfish reason why they are supportive.

And AI Voices is no different. Even if they didn't use anybody else's voice but their own or people they know and gotten consent from, think about all the voice changers and voice mixers out there. If they have the money to pay for those, there's nothing legally wrong with them using those to make their own voices to use for making AI voices.
In the eyes of people who believe they don't have enough money for pay for voice actors, but can pay an enough amount of money a month for the voice changers, mixers and AI voices, it sounds great since they can use what money they have to get those and not have to worry about infringing on other people's rights. For the big companies who have more than enough money, but hardly want to pay for professionals, it basically means less money spent and less hassle regarding persistent workers with complaints.
Basically, it's the same big problem of, "When you make something for the intention of everybody, including the ones who couldn't before, it's still accesible by everybody." And any good intention can easily be distorted.

 

[Kirbeh]

So, random crazy thought; what if for the series' 25th anniversary, they released a free remake of Smash 64 in a new engine with new assets, etc. and then revealed a little later that it was demo/test run for an actual new Smash being worked on. They get something out for the 25th and give players a taste of what's to come in the proper sequel.

Likelihood of this scenario happening is less than 0, but I thought it'd be an interesting idea.

 

[Gengar84]

So, random crazy thought; what if for the series' 25th anniversary, they released a free remake of Smash 64 in a new engine with new assets, etc. and then revealed a little later that it was demo/test run for an actual new Smash being worked on. They get something out for the 25th and give players a taste of what's to come in the proper sequel.

Likelihood of this scenario happening is less than 0, but I thought it'd be an interesting idea.

I’ve had that same thought for Melee. I think either one would be a fun release to get people ready for the next game.

 

[Kirbeh]

I’ve had that same thought for Melee. I think either one would be a fun release to get people ready for the next game.

I go with 64 specifically not just for being the series origin, but also because it'd be the least amount of work and therefore works as a smaller release or "demo" of sorts. A full remake of Melee I feel would constitute a proper retail release. Far more work, and also more likely to turn heads and gain sales by virtue of being Melee. A 64 remake being free is already unlikely as is (let alone the idea of a remake for any Smash game really.) This is kind of the only scenario that I can imagine something like this could even happen.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Still wondering why Smash 64 hasn't been released on N64 NSO yet.

 

[Louie G.]

So, random crazy thought; what if for the series' 25th anniversary, they released a free remake of Smash 64 in a new engine with new assets, etc. and then revealed a little later that it was demo/test run for an actual new Smash being worked on.

I'd be so down for this if they went the extra mile and added in some of the scrapped characters. Smash 64 + would be a dream. It'd also be nice to see a more polished take on the more vibrant, comic book angle of the original game to distinguish it further.

I would hope that, new engine aside, it still plays like Smash 64 though. Would definitely want it to maintain the unique identity of that game and as such trying out new characters in the context of an older Smash is novel. Of course Smash Remix has us covered, but Nintendo doesn't care about that.

 

[chocolatejr9]

I’m a bit afraid that voice actors might no longer be a job in the not too distant future. AI voices have been getting a lot better and I can envision companies wanting to save money and not have to hire an actor at all. Hopefully everything works out and I’m just overthinking things. There’s a lot of cool potential uses for AI to get excited for, especially in video games, but there are definitely downsides as well such as job displacement.

Heck, I think I read somewhere that Ubisoft is already looking into that (something about Evie Frye's VA?)...

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

The one positive about various entertainment unions is that future contract negotiations might strongly restrict AI voice usage and hopefully that in combination with a fan backlash might limit its worst usage.

Non profit fan projects are another story, and there's a decent chance you'll all sorts of voice mods for games from numerous performers within the next five years, but that's its own ball of wax.

 

[RileyXY1]

The one positive about various entertainment unions is that future contract negotiations might strongly restrict AI voice usage and hopefully that in combination with a fan backlash might limit its worst usage.

Non profit fan projects are another story, and there's a decent chance you'll all sorts of voice mods for games from numerous performers within the next five years, but that's its own ball of wax.

And backlash from VAs themselves. Fears about AI partially led to the first double actors and writers strike since 1960, and we might end up having a voice actor's strike as well if this keeps up.

 

[CannonStreak]

The #SmashBros #amiibo of Sora will be released on 2/16/2024! #KingdomHearts pic.twitter.com/y3zdbaLplz

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 7, 2023

Here is news on the Sora Amiibo for Ultimate.

 

[Perkilator]

The #SmashBros #amiibo of Sora will be released on 2/16/2024! #KingdomHearts pic.twitter.com/y3zdbaLplz

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 7, 2023

Here is news on the Sora Amino for Ultimate.

*amiibo

That said, that's not the only news:

『大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL』は、本日で発売5周年を迎えました！ 明日から5日間、ゲーム内イベント「ありがとう!! スマブラSP発売5周年」を開催します。期間中はバトル後にもらえる経験値とSPが5倍になるほか、「おやつL」を5個追加で入手できます。#スマブラSP pic.twitter.com/vZs8GvMlwO

— 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ【スマブラ公式】 (@SmashBrosJP) December 7, 2023

 

[cashregister9]

*amiibo

That said, that's not the only news:

『大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL』は、本日で発売5周年を迎えました！ 明日から5日間、ゲーム内イベント「ありがとう!! スマブラSP発売5周年」を開催します。期間中はバトル後にもらえる経験値とSPが5倍になるほか、「おやつL」を5個追加で入手できます。#スマブラSP pic.twitter.com/vZs8GvMlwO

— 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ【スマブラ公式】 (@SmashBrosJP) December 7, 2023

There will also be new spirits

そして、2024年1月からは、新規スピリッツも登場するイベント（計4回）や育てたamiiboと挑むタッグトーナメントも開催予定ですので、どうぞお楽しみに！

— 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ【スマブラ公式】 (@SmashBrosJP) December 7, 2023

 

[Mushroomguy12]

Is it just me or do embed twitter pics not show on Smashboards?

 

[cashregister9]

Is it just me or do embed twitter pics not show on Smashboards?

View attachment 381374

Yeah that was another thing screwed up when Musk took over.

 

[CannonStreak]

*amiibo

That said, that's not the only news:

『大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ SPECIAL』は、本日で発売5周年を迎えました！ 明日から5日間、ゲーム内イベント「ありがとう!! スマブラSP発売5周年」を開催します。期間中はバトル後にもらえる経験値とSPが5倍になるほか、「おやつL」を5個追加で入手できます。#スマブラSP pic.twitter.com/vZs8GvMlwO

— 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ【スマブラ公式】 (@SmashBrosJP) December 7, 2023

HOW the heck did I mispell that?

I wonder if anything else will be done with Ultimate with that Spirit Event?

 

[Aaayei]

Calling it now, Smash 64 spirits, given January (when the spirit event starts according to the tweet) will be the 25th anniversary

 

[Perkilator]

HOW the heck did I mispell that?

I wonder if anything else will be done with Ultimate with that Spirit Event?

Oh yeah, the Game Awards are tomorrow. The same day Ultimate launched.

Now I'm not suggesting anything but

 

[dream1ng]

Gonna take a shot in the dark that the band is back together and working on a new album.

They could be animating Waluigi's crotch chop as we speak.

 

[RouffWestie]

The port supporters were right; they can just keep adding "content" to Ultimate.